


Christmas Eve 2021

by Peskychloe



Series: Haikyuu!! Skaters [14]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, alcohol mention, happy birthday ennoshita chikara, soft fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 17:56:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13128870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peskychloe/pseuds/Peskychloe
Summary: Happy birthday to the best of boys(set in the future of the Skaters AU)





	Christmas Eve 2021

 

 

As soon as Chikara walks in the door, he's nervous. There's an atmosphere that prickles along his skin, the same one he hasn't felt in months.

“Yuuji?” he says as he takes his scarf off and wraps it around a peg in the hallway.

“I'm in here!” Yuuji shouts from the kitchen. “Don't come in!” he adds, desperately.

The prickle travels to Chikara's chest, filling him with dread. “I'm coming in.”

“No!” he shouts again.

But it's too late, Chikara is already at the door, too panic-stricken to listen, pushing it open. He imagines a myriad of scenes he might see in those few seconds, all involving Yuuji having fallen off the wagon. At least one involves him being with someone else, and he feels nauseous.

He sees none of what he imagined, even though Yuuji isn't alone.

“Chika! I told you not to come in!” There's flour on his forehead, something in his hair that looks like egg, and a small boy standing on a stool next to him who looks terrified.

His hair is black, almost the same style as Chikara's, glasses with thick brown rims balancing lopsidedly on his nose. He turns and clings to Yuuji, eyes like saucers still directed at Chikara.

“It's fine, Jack,” Yuuji says, picking him up. The boy turns his head, burrowing it into Yuuji's neck, his thumb in his mouth. He clings to Yuuji, as if Chikara might bite.

Except Chikara knows the name, Jack, and knows the last thing he should do is snap at him.

“Oh, hi Jack. It's nice to meet you finally. Yuuji's told me a lot about you.”

Jack looks up at Yuuji, puzzled, before hiding back against his neck.

“That's me,” he says against Jack's temple, before turning to Chikara. “He knows me as Pip. That's what his mum has always called me.”

“Ah, okay. Well, Pip's told me all about you, and I'm really happy to meet you. May I come closer and shake your hand?”

Jack looks up again at Yuuji. “You can say no, but Chika is very nice. He looks after me when I'm poorly.”

This time, instead of nuzzling back into Yuuji's neck, Jack turns and nods at Chikara. His eyes are still wide, and the brightest blue, his skin pale as the flour he's also spattered in.

Chikara moves slowly but surely, and puts his hand out to Jack. After a few seconds, he gingerly extends his hand towards Chikara's, pinching his two first fingers, before withdrawing again. “Hi,” he says, softly, still clutching Yuuji.

“Hey, Jack, why don't you go and finish what you're doing over there, and let me talk to Chika for a second okay?” Jack leans up and whispers something in his ear. “Ah, no, I won't tell him that.”

He sets Jack on the floor, who scurries over to a small table and chair Chikara has never seen before. It's covered in paper and pens, which Jack begins using furiously, distracted immediately in his activity.

Yuuji kisses Chikara and takes his hand. “Sorry. Sam needed someone.”

“I understand. It's fine.”

“You looked like you'd seen a ghost, though.”

Chikara smiles at him. “I'm the one should be sorry. I thought you'd been drinking. Should have trusted you.”

Yuuji's mouth makes an O shape in realisation. “Oh, God, of course that's what you'd think! Sorry, I never even thought. I just didn't want you to see the mess until I had a chance to tell you Jack was here.”

“Shall we both stop apologising? It's all fine.” Chikara looks over at Jack, who's still busy, then kisses Yuuji on the cheek. Yuuji turns, grabbing at Chikara's waist to pull him in for a full-mouthed kiss, giggling when Chikara pushes him away.

He whispers into his ear. “Dude, you could bend me over this counter and fuck me senseless, and he wouldn't notice. Not when he's drawing.”

Chikara shoves him away more forcefully, although he's still smiling. “Don't swear in front of children.” He tries to walk around the other side of the island in the kitchen, but Yuuji stops him.

“Where d'ya think you're going?”

“I was going to...”

“You can't go back there!” He takes Chikara's hand and leads him to the sofa. “What do you need, I'll get it,” he says, guiding him to sit down.

“I _was_ going to make coffee, but now I'm getting suspicious again.”

“I'll get one!” Yuuji says, skipping off.

Chikara assesses him; he doesn't seem like he's been drinking, but there's still a prickling feeling he can't shake. Thinking it could be Jack, he looks over at him, but he's tiny and harmless, occupied in his drawing. He thinks about going over to talk to him, but decides against it when he remembers the fear in his eyes.

A clatter from the kitchen grabs his attention, and Yuuji stands up guiltily. He's in the wrong place, clearly he's been rooting through a cupboard completely unrelated to coffee making. “I'm fine! Nothing broken. Including me,” he says with a slightly manic laugh.

“Yuuji, what's going on?”

“Nothing!” he says in the same high pitched voice. “Stay there!”

Chikara starts to stand up, but feels a warmth on his arm. He turns to see Jack pressing gently on him. “Pip said no.”

He stares back, somehow frightened by a four year old. Could he be helping Yuuji cover his tracks? There's no way, surely, he's too young. But then Chikara remembers his home-life, and knows he could have definitely learnt how to lie and hide things already.

“Jack? Do you know what Pip is doing over there?” he says quietly.

Jack nods. “I can't tell you though. He told me not to.”

“I'm sure he won't mind if you tell me.”

Jack shakes his head. “Definitely not you.”

Chikara's throat swells, like he's swallowing a cannonball, then the heaviness falls into his chest. “Why not me?”

“Because it's a surprise,” Jack leans in to whisper.

The word lubricates the blockage. Surprise is a nice thing, Yuuji didn't call it a secret. He still feels a bit sick, but it's definitely lessening.

“Okay,” he whispers back, “Can I see what you've been drawing?”

Yuuji arrives with a tray at that moment. “Nope! Not yet.” He puts the tray down, and pushes gently on Jack's back. “Go back and finish what you're doing, Doodles, and then everything'll be ready.”

“Ready?” Chikara asks, watching Jack toddle away to his table and pick up a fat blue pencil.

“Chika, you are dreadfully impatient! Just wait!” He bounces on the sofa next to Chikara, grasping his hand. The flour and egg are gone, and his face is shining with being freshly-washed and the huge smile he's wearing. “So, anyway, Sam needed to do some last minute Christmas shopping. Thought she might be back by now. Didn't have a chance to ring and warn you, then I got sidetracked with him.” He looks over at Jack fondly. “I can't believe he came and spoke to you so quickly!”

“Well, I was trying to go to the kitchen and he stopped me.”

Yuuji throws his head back and laughs, still looking at Jack. “Oh, bless him. I told him it was all a surprise. He's bright for his age, right? Isn't he great?”

Chikara shrugs. “He seems nice so far.”

“You wait until he's comfortable with you. He's so funny. He was singing me a song about Japanese chickens while we were baking...” He stops short, looking back at Chikara to see if he noticed.

“Baking?”

“Oops. Busted.”

“You don't have to be a genius to guess you were baking. You were covered in flour and eggs. Why do you look so guilty?”

Yuuji leans in and kisses him, before saying quietly against his lips, “Pretend you didn't know, okay?”

Chikara nods, still confused, and Yuuji stands up. He stands in the centre of the room, hands on hips, and says theatrically, “Now then! Is anyone peckish?”

Jack looks up, smiling for the first time. “Yes! Me!” He jumps up and runs over to Yuuji, a piece of red construction paper folded in half in his hand.

“Come on then,” Yuuji says, taking his hand and leading him to the kitchen. “Oh, Chika, look! What's that out of the window?” He winks and nods at him.

Chikara dutifully looks the other way, rolling his eyes first. His eyes fall on the bench he built for Yuuji, the one he insisted on buying just after Chikara moved in. It's covered in crescent moon shapes, cut from the wood like cookies from dough. He wonders for a second if that's what they've been baking, but then, suddenly, finally, he realises what's going on.

He doesn't know why it took so long, he's obviously not as bright as he thought, maybe not even as bright as Jack. Then again, it's two days early, so it's not at the forefront of his mind.

In the window, he sees only the reflection of the candles as Yuuji carries a cake towards him. As they get closer, he can see then both singing 'Happy Birthday', their eyes lit up by smiles and the flickering of twenty-nine flames.

 

 


End file.
